Ravi Shastri has opened up on the infamous drama from 2016 that involved Sourav Ganguly . Shastri, a former India captain who also served as one of the most successful head coaches in Indian cricket history, held the role of Director of Cricket for the Indian team in 2014. Two years later, the BCCI decided to remove the post and asked Shastri to apply for the position of head coach. In focus was the Board’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which included Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar , and VVS Laxman . The CAC overlooked Shastri and named Anil Kumble as the head coach of the side.
“In 2014 I took over; I was the director of the side. Came in 2016, they said, no, we don’t want any director now. Because you had given your heart and soul to getting the team to where it was and you could see the fruits being delivered in a matter of time, you know, that hurt me; if I look back at my career, that hurt me a lot.
Okay,” Shastri told Republic TV . Reflecting further on the incident, Shastri said, “Then I went back to commentary, carried on with the game. I said, okay, that was a good experience for a year and a half.
You apply for a head coach position. And there should have been no reason why I should not have carried on on sheer merit. So there was obviously some other reason, some motive behind why you were shafted out. “That hurt me. And then you had to go and sit out,” he added. It taught me a lot; it got me back into the dressing room. It taught me how the players think. In the modern era, how Gen Z thinks. And, you know, leave it at that. It was a bad knock on the knuckles.
